World stocks rise on G-20 stimulus pledge

BANGKOK: World markets rose Tuesday as investors fed on a pledge by the world's 20 biggest economies to underwrite the global recovery with stimulus efforts.

Europe followed Asia higher after stocks in Australia jumped nearly 2 percent amid news business confidence had reached a near six-year high and Japanese shares shrugged off weak economic data. Oil prices rose above $69 ahead of Wednesday's OPEC meeting.

With Wall Street closed for a holiday Monday, markets continued to lap up the weekend announcements from finance officials at the Group of 20 summit in London that boosted European and Asian shares on Monday.

The officials welcomed improvements in economic growth but warned recovery was not sustainable without continued government help in the form of deficit spending, low interest rates and efforts to expand the money supply.

``I don't know if the optimism is justified but people are buying into it,'' said Francis Lun, general manager at Fulbright Securities Ltd in Hong Kong.

``The G-20 countries said they would continue to flood the system with liquidity so the economy doesn't tank. That's what investors wanted to hear. Investors always want to believe the good news and disregard the bad news,'' he said.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average advanced 72.29 points, or 0.7 percent, at 10,393.23 despite a steep fall in the nation's current account surplus underlining prolonged weakness in exports _ a key driver of growth for the world's No. 2 economy.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 440.50, or 2.1 percent, to 21,069.81 while South Korea's Kospi was up 0.7 percent at 1,619.69.

Australia's benchmark jumped 1.6 percent as a monthly survey showed business confidence in August at its highest level in nearly six years. China's Shanghai index gained 1.7 percent and Taiwan's benchmark rose 1.2 percent.